GLIMPSES OF LIFE BEHIND ETON'S WALLS

Eton College is arguably the most famous public (Americans: read private) school in the world. It has always been regarded as an exclusive enclave for Britain's aristocracy, and during the last 545 years it has educated many of their most illustrious sons.

Now, however, the college has gone public - in one sense of the word, anyway - by opening the Museum of Eton Life in part of its 15th-century buildings, offering visitors a glimpse of life behind those cloistered walls.

Since Eton, which is about 15 miles west of London, directly across the Thames from Windsor, is no ordinary school, it is not surprising that this is no ordinary museum. Housed in a small warren of vaulted cellars under College Hall that were originally used to store the fellows' (masters') wine, the museum makes no attempt to extol the school or its old boys. Instead, it tells the history of the college graphically and anecdotally.

With 1,250 students, Eton is Britain's largest public school. However, although it was founded in 1440, by King Henry VI (who was only 18 at the time), it is not the oldest. That honor belongs to Winchester, founded some 60 years earlier by William of Wykeham, on whose precepts Henry VI largely based the Eton curriculum. Henry also lured William Waynflete, Winchester's magister, or headmaster, to be Eton's first provost.

In his Foundation Statutes, Henry wrote that 70 boys between the ages of 8 and 12 should be chosen as Scholars, to be of good character, competent at reading, Latin grammar and plainsong. They were not allowed to carry swords, knives or arms, nor to keep monkeys, bears and badgers, and if they led a disreputable life, married, or became monks, they had to leave.

The statutes also stipulated that each scholar should receive a gown and hood every year, and it mandated allotted times for meals. Unfortunately, no provision was made for food, and for the first century or so, scholars had to provide their own. By the 18th century, food was provided, but it apparently consisted mostly of mutton and beer, and complaints were legion. By 1820, however, it was decided that the boys should have chicken and greens twice a year and raspberry tart once.

Accommodation and educational facilities were hardly less Spartan. Though Henry enlarged and embellished an old church on the site - it is now Eton's Perpendicular-style chapel - until the mid-17th century the boys ate in College Hall and slept in Long Chamber, a big, bare, dirty dormitory above a schoolroom (which is still in use). In the late 17th century, as the school expanded, a new building was erected, but until the 1660's the only teachers were the headmaster and the lower master. Only Greek and Latin were taught until the mid-19th century. Parents who wanted their son to learn French or natural philosophy (science) had to make special arrangements and pay extra.

Things have improved. Over the last 100 years, 24 boarding houses have been built, each accommodating about 50 boys, all of whom have their own room. There are more than 100 classrooms and lecture halls, three laboratory buildings, a computer room, music schools, two theaters, a concert hall, a gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool and a rifle range. The current student body includes 70 Scholars (who are still chosen for their academic promise and pay no tuition).

The idea of the museum grew out of the college's invitation to Diana Berry, an art consultant, to appraise the college's collections. Her original mandate, she said, was to ''climb about and see what you can find.'' What she found were marvelous archives describing the school's history and architecture but very little to do with the lives of the boys. ''Until now, visitors have been able to see the outside of the buildings and visit the chapel and some historic but unoccupied schoolrooms, but they have not been able to get any idea of the workings of the school,'' she said.

To help rectify this situation, a mailing was sent to 1,800 graduates asking for items related to their life at Eton. ''We went for the older Etonians,'' Mrs. Berry said, ''on the assumption that they were likely to have spawned second and third generations at Eton - and that grandfathers have more time to answer letters anyway.''

The response was so overwhelming that Mrs. Berry found herself in the embarrassing position of having to reject some contributions. Among the items she kept were all the furniture for a turn-of-the-century boy's room, as well as sporting trophies, early schoolbooks and letters home describing life at Eton. Some old boys delivered their treasured Etoniana themselves, and sometimes Mrs. Berry took them in to dinner with the present boys. ''Their eyes would light up with excitement at spaghetti and pudding,'' she said.

The result is a museum that mixes the formal and informal, the educational and anecdotal. Some items, such as the top hats worn by the five Gosling brothers when they were students at the College in 1888, and oars, straw boaters and other paraphernalia of sport at Eton, are displayed in the open with only a discreet ''please do not touch'' sign.

In glass cases one can see such pieces as a silver gilded model of the Eton chapel, presented to the college by King William IV, that was made by Rundell & Bridge, jewelers to the royal family at the time, and the kneeling block used by generations of students to brace themselves for birching (the standard punishment for all misdemeanors for four centuries).

Also behind glass is a re-creation of a boy's room dating from about 1900. The furniture provided by the college was basic, and it was accepted practice that boys - or their mothers - added what they could in the way of comfort. Many students brought wallpaper and curtains from home as well as bureaus (known in school slang as burries), paintings and china. All boys displayed as many ribbons, caps and jerseys as possible to show their sporting prowess (the flaunting of academic ability was frowned on). Senior boys, who at that time were allowed to mete out discipline to their juniors, hung their selection of canes from pictures and curtain railings.

There is, of course, a serious side to life at Eton - apart from the formal education offered - and the museum reflects this, too. For 200 years, students have produced a series of magazines known collectively as ephemera.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

The first, which appeared in 1786, was called The Microcosm and was edited by the young George Canning, who went on to be British Foreign Secretary twice and Prime Minister briefly and whose policies towards the Spanish colonies in America led directly to the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine.

William Ewart Gladstone was another future Prime Minister who made his first appearance in print in an ephemeral.

Some of these ephemera are on display at the museum; they will be exhibited on a rotating basis.

Today, discipline at Eton is regulated by the boys themselves, under the guidance of the headmaster and staff. Until about five years ago, the most common punishment for various misdemeanors was beating. ''I was never whipped so much in my life as I was one morning for not smoaking,'' wrote one Tom Rogers in the 1660's. This was, of course, long before medical knowledge of the hazards of tobacco, but the rule was not eccentric at the time: it was a period when smoking was believed to help prevent plague, and the habit was made mandatory at Eton.

Under the present headmaster, beating has been abolished - although several whippy-looking birches are on display in the museum and must bring back uncomfortable memories for some. Also abolished is the system of fagging, under which junior boys were appointed to carry out menial tasks such as lighting fires, running errands and making tea for senior boys. T he main fascination of the museum is the way these customs - better than anything else - shed light on what could be called the Etonian philosophy, with its emphasis on developing independence and confidence in young men. (This philosophy produced an illustrious roster of graduates, many of whom achieved distinction in public life: the present British cabinet is believed to be the first one in memory that does not contain an Old Etonian.) Even the school's rules seem always to have been there to be bent. For example, an exhibit on boating that contains old oars and photographs of past boating scenes informs the visitor that since 1816 students have celebrated the birthday of George III, a great patron of the college, with a procession of boats on the Thames. The fact that, until 1840, the river was officially out of bounds seems not to have weighed too heavily on anyone except the headmaster, who had to pretend that nothing was happening and therefore could not join his monarch on June 4 to watch the boats go by.

The river, which flows past the school, was put in bounds for a somewhat unlikely, but very Etonian, reason: a boy drowned in it. Instead of erecting the 19th-century equivalent of barbed wire along the banks to prevent another tragedy, the headmaster of the day decided to institute swimming tests and allow all who passed the freedom of the water.

That most famous of Eton sporting occasions, the wall game, may never have been outlawed, but its development, detailed in an exhibit that includes helmets, jerseys and photographs of previous games, is also typically Etonian. The game, a form of rugby that looks like a muddy free for all, actually has rules so complicated they defy simple explanation. The first set of rules was written down in 1847. Rule No. 1 was: ''The game begins strictly at half past twelve.'' Umpires were not compulsory, and kicking one's opponent on the shin was an integral part of the game. If a fellow shinned you, you were honor bound to shin him back.

Honor, in fact, still shines bright at Eton, although apparently, even here, it needs an occasional nudge. In common with most schools today, Eton is not free from the threat of graffiti. But who could disobey a notice (on a wall of the School Yard, just around the corner from the museum) that reads, ''Please protect walls from defacement by writing.''?

TIPS FOR VISITORS TO THE OLD BOYS' TOWN

Hours The museum is open year-round (except May 30 and Sept. 21), according to a schedule that reflects the school year. For example, until Sept. 11 it is open daily between 10:30 A.M. and 5 P.M., and from Sept. 12 to Oct. 6 it is open between 2 and 5 P.M. Admission is $2; $1.25 for children under 16.

Eton is an easy day trip by train or car. Trains to Windsor and Eton leave Paddington Station in London every half hour, Monday through Saturday, from 9 A.M. to 10 P.M. There is also some train service on Sunday. The trip takes about 40 minutes. Round-trip fare is $3.50. By car from London, take the M4 motorway west to exit 5 and follow the signs to Eton. Since parking in Eton can be a problem, visitors may wish to go first to Windsor (exit 6 on the motorway) and park in the center of town. It is an easy walk past Windsor Castle, over the bridge across the Thames and along Eton High Street to the college.

Room and Board

Wrens Old House Hotel (Thames Street, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1PX, England; telephone Windsor 61354) was originally built and occupied by Sir Christopher Wren. A double room with bath, breakfast, service and Valued Added Tax ranges from $50 to $90.

Another choice in Windsor is Oakley Court Hotel (Windsor Road, Water Oakley, Berkshire SL4 5UR; Maidenhead 74141), which also has an excellent restaurant. Double rooms with bath, breakfast, service and V.A.T. are also from $50 to $90. Lunch is $12, dinner $20.

For visitors with a car, the best lunch at the prettiest restaurant is to be had at the Waterside Inn (Ferry Road, Bray-on-Thames, Berkshire SL1 6AT; Maidenhead 20691). The restaurant, under Michel Roux, is one of only two restaurants in Britain to have three Michelin stars. The set lunch at $23 is good value. (Closed Monday and for lunch Tuesday.)E. B.

ERICA BROWN is a writer based in London.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports,
and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this article appears in print on July 14, 1985, on Page 10010022 of the National edition with the headline: GLIMPSES OF LIFE BEHIND ETON'S WALLS. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe